| Subject | Contents |
| Definition | A screening test to detect the presence of various substances in the urine that chemically react with an indicator metallic dye (cupric sulfate). The most common reducing substances examined include glucose or galactose. |
| Alternative Names | Clinitest |
| How the test is performed | Adult or child: Collect a "clean-catch" (midstream) urine sample. To obtain a clean-catch sample, men or boys should wipe clean the head of the penis . Women or girls need to wash the area between the lips of the vagina with soapy water and rinse well. As you start to urinate, allow a small amount to fall into the toilet bowl (this clears the urethra of contaminants). Then, in a clean container, catch about 1 to 2 ounces of urine and remove the container from the urine stream. Give the container to the health care provider or assistant. Infant: Thoroughly wash the area around the urethra. Open a urine collection bag (a plastic bag with an adhesive paper on one end), and place it on your infant. For males, the entire penis can be placed in the bag and the adhesive attached to the skin. For females, the bag is placed over the labia. Place a diaper over the infant (bag and all). Check your baby frequently and remove the bag after the infant has urinated into it. For active infants, this procedure may take a couple of attempts -- lively infants can displace the bag, causing an inability to obtain the specimen. The urine is drained into a container for transport back to the health care provider. A Clinitest tablet is placed in a sample of the urine. If urinary reducing substances (i.e., glucose, galactose or other reducing substances) are present, the urine will turn blue. |
| How to prepare for the test | No special preparation is necessary for this test. If the collection is being taken from an infant, a couple of extra collection bags may be necessary. |
| How the test will feel | The test involves only normal urination. |
| Why the test is performed | This test is a quick and inexpensive way of screening for diabetes and inborn metabolic problems such as galactosemia (elevated level of galactose in the blood). |
| Normal Values | Normally neither glucose nor galactose are found in the urine. Therefore, a Clinitest tablet would not turn the urine blue. |
| What abnormal results mean | If the Clinitest tablet turns blue, this indicates the present of a urinary reducing substance such as glucose (as seen in diabetes ). A simple urine dipstick test that is specific for glucose can be performed. If the dipstick test is positive, then you have a high level of glucose in the blood, and the glucose is spilling over into the urine. Further testing will be done to confirm or rule out diabetes. If the Clinitest tablet turns blue and the dipstick indicates that no glucose is present in the urine you have a high level of a urinary reducing substance such as galactose in the blood which is spilling over into the urine. Further testing will be performed to confirm or rule out galactosemia . |
| What the risks are | If the sample is being collected from your infant, some skin irritation may result from the adhesive on the container. |
| Special considerations | Drugs that may increase urine glucose measurements include aminosalicylic acid, cephalosporins, chloral hydrate, chloramphenicol, dextrothyroxine, diazoxide, diuretics (loop and thiazides), estrogens, isoniazid, levodopa, lithium, nafcillin, nalidixic acid, and nicotinic acid (large doses). Drugs that may give false positive results with Clinitest, but not with the dipstick tests include acetylsalicylic acid, aminosalicylic acid, ascorbic acid , cephalothin, chloral hydrate, nitrofurantoin, streptomycin, and sulfonamides. Drugs that may give false negative results are ascorbic acid (dipstick tests such as Clinistix, Tes-tape), levodopa (Clinistix), and phenothiazines (Clinistix, Tes-tape). |
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